1.  fossil(n = noun.person) dodo, fogey, fogy - someone whose style is out of fashion; Array
is a kind of golden ager, old person, oldster, senior citizen

2.  fossil(n = noun.object) Array - the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil; Array
is a kind of remains
has particulars: fucoid, belemnite, ammonite, ammonoid, guide fossil, index fossil, microfossil, wormcast
Derived forms noun fossilist₁, verb fossilize₁

   fossil(a = adj.pert) Array - characteristic of a fossil; Array

1.  Dug out of the earth; as, fossil coal; fossil salt. [1913 Webster]

2.  preserved from a previous geological age; as, fossil water from deep wells; -- usually implying that the object so described has had its substance modified by long residence in the ground, but also used (as with fossil water) in cases where chemical composition is not altered. [PJC]

3.  Like or pertaining to fossils; contained in rocks, whether petrified or not; as, fossil plants, shells. [1913 Webster]

1.  A substance dug from the earth. [1913 Webster]
" Formerly all minerals were called fossils, but the word is now restricted to express the remains of animals and plants found buried in the earth." Ure. [1913 Webster]

2.  The remains of an animal or plant found in stratified rocks. Most fossils belong to extinct species, but many of the later ones belong to species still living. [1913 Webster]

3.  A person whose views and opinions are extremely antiquated; one whose sympathies are with a former time rather than with the present. [1913 Webster]

fossil, n. & adj.
--n.
1 the remains or impression of a (usu. prehistoric) plant or animal hardened in rock (often attrib. : fossil bones; fossil shells).
2 colloq. an antiquated or unchanging person or thing.
3 a word that has become obsolete except in set phrases or forms, e.g. hue in hue and cry.
--adj.
1 of or like a fossil.
2 antiquated; out of date.

Idiom:
fossil fuel a natural fuel such as coal or gas formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms. fossil ivory see IVORY.

Derivative:
fossiliferous adj. fossilize v.tr. & intr. (also -ise). fossilization n.

Etymology:
F fossile f. L fossilis f. fodere foss- dig

N  oldness, age, antiquity, cobwebs of antiquity, maturity, decline, decay, senility, seniority, eldership, primogeniture, archaism, thing of the past, relic of the past, megatherium, Sanskrit, tradition, prescription, custom, immemorial usage, common law, old, ancient, antique, of long standing, time-honored, venerable, elder, eldest, firstborn, prime, primitive, primeval, primigenous, paleolontological, paleontologic, paleoanthropological, paleoanthropic, paleolithic, primordial, primordinate, aboriginal, diluvian, antediluvian, protohistoric, prehistoric, antebellum, colonial, precolumbian, patriarchal, preadamite, paleocrystic, fossil, paleozoolical, paleozoic, preglacial, antemundane, archaic, classic, medieval, Pre-Raphaelite, ancestral, black-letter, immemorial, traditional, prescriptive, customary, whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contr, inveterate, rooted, antiquated, of other times, rococo, of the old school, after-age, obsolete, out of date, out of fashion, out of it, stale, old-fashioned, behind the age, old-world, exploded, gone out, gone by, passe, run out, senile, time worn, crumbling, secondhand, old as the hills, old as Methuselah, old as Adam, old as history, Archeozoic, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Paleogene, Neocene, Quaternary, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent, since the world was made, since the year one, since the days of Methuselah, vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.

N  hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board.

cork fossil, fossil copal, fossil fuel, fossil oil, guide fossil, index fossil